IIM Indore revamps its One year full time MBA (EPGP)

MBA programmes that mandate prior work experience for candidates joining the course are relatively new to India (across the rest of the world of course, all MBA courses mandate a minimum of three years work experience for candidates). These courses gained popularity in India after Indian School of Business (ISB) launched the post-experience One year PGP in 2001. From the start, ISB had a singular focus on creating a stellar course for an experienced audience. Other business schools that now offer a One year MBA programme have traditionally addressed a young audience without prior work experience with their two-year PGP programme. Many of these business schools are evolving their processes and course delivery to address an experienced class. One such business school is IIM Indore, which launched the One year MBA (Executive Post Graduate Programme) in 2009 and recently announced the restructuring of the course beginning with the Class of 2013-14. Oneyearmba.co.in talks to Prof. Jayasimha K R, EPGP Chairperson to find out the extent of the changes and future plans for the course.

Q. Could you please share the key changes that have been introduced in the One year MBA (EPGP) by IIM Indore?

Starting with the Class of 2014, we have rolled out a series of changes in the course design.

The major change has been to reorganise the electives to bring a sharper industry focus. Keeping the overall credits the same, we have readjusted the core and elective course mix.

As a conscious choice, we have decided to focus the choice of electives around Analytics and BFSI verticals to begin with.  Roughly 40% of the credits earned as electives have to be from one the two verticals. The rest can be chosen from the ‘horizontals’ (a term we use for functional areas such as Strategy, Marketing, Operations Management and so on). Going forward, we may add IT consulting to the list of verticals.

Choosing electives by definition is a process of self-selection. To enable meaningful self-selection given the previous experience and aspirations of the participants, the choice of courses has been significantly expanded in the ‘horizontals’. Participants are offered slightly more than 75 credits to choose approximately 24 credit equivalent courses from the horizontals. The choice of electives offered will help build and strengthen the domain expertise in the pre-defined industry concentrations.

An advisory board comprising of senior executives from the identified practice areas and the EPGP system helped identify relevant courses that would lead to domain expertise. These will be in areas such as big data, cloud computing, social media analytics, health care models etc, which will enhance employment opportunities for the participants.

Additionally, we have introduced a quantitative bootcamp at the beginning of the course. Since EPGP participants come with significant post gradation experience, many students shared a need for revisiting some core quantitative concepts. Besides helping students brush up the basics the bootcamp will also help students get immersed into the IIM Indore learning methodology.

We have also introduced more contemporary, practitioner driven experiential courses. These will be mostly offered as workshops by the CXO’s, which would offer a whole new perspective.

Q. So the overall contact hours remain unchanged?

There is no change in the contact hours. The overall credits still remain the same at 96 credits. The redistribution allows participants to earn more credits from courses self-selected in terms five and six.

Q. The One year MBA (EPGP) at IIM Indore is now in its 5^th year. What are the reasons for the changes at this juncture? 

The changes have been introduced in order to refine the value proposition of EPGP. A few considerations we had in mind when we took this step were-

• The courses should leverage the experience of the participants
• The courses should be aligned with the industry concentration being identified for the program
• The core courses should provide a general management perspective at an elevated pitch compared to the PGP program.
• The courses should take into account the learning from online courses and tutorials. (online here refers to lectures available online for self-study for the participants of the residential course)

The changes introduced allows for self-paced learning. Given the heterogeneity of the participants in terms of experiences, background, capabilities, etc, the idea of letting participants self-select the pace of learning appeals to us. Online courses are a great way of doing this. Often the online courses are coupled with offline mentoring by a faculty.

Q. How did IIM Indore go about restructuring the course? 

A visit to Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM A) and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB) was made to benchmark our courses with the similar offerings of these institutions (One year PGP at ISB and One year PGPX at IIM A).  A detailed discussion with select group of faculty members was carried out to arrive at a revised structure for the EPGP programme.

The feedback from the outgoing batch (batch of 2012) provided the necessary stimuli to relook at the design and delivery of the course and to add contemporary touches to our EPGP program.

A broad outline for restructuring the EPGP programme was presented to the Faculty Council Subsequently the board was also appraised of the proposed changes. So there a broad consensus at all levels. EPGP is a very important program in IIM Indore’s portfolio.

Q. Does the international immersion stay the same or have any changes been introduced in this segment?

There are certain changes in the international immersion too.

One big change is in the partner institution. EPGP particpants will now be spending one term of five weeks duration at McCombs School of Business at University of Texas Austin. Earlier the batch used to visit the University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Additionally, we have introduced an option for credit transfer from international immersion courses to the total credits requirement at IIM.

The International immersion at IIM Indore is unique. It aims to achieve significantly more than simply country exposure, as is the case in most other One-year programmes in India. The five weeks immersion at McCombs School of Business at University of Texas Austin involves rigorous course work leading to joint certification. The rigour in the international immersion term is very similar to the rigour in other terms at IIM Indore both in course work rigor and credit fulfillment.

Q. What is the reason for changing the partner school from Katz business school to McCombs?

The pedigree and the profile of McCombs School of business is significantly better.  More importantly, the course work has been customized to suit the requirements of IIM Indore’s EPGP. During the immersion, the participants pursue a customized advanced analytics module of close to 100 hours of class room instruction.

Q. The One year MBA (EPGP) by virtue of its intake of experienced candidates is the first course at IIM Indore eligible for the prestigious MBA accreditation by Association of MBAs, UK. IIM A, SP Jain, MDI, IMI have already applied for this and received an MBA accreditation for their One year MBA courses. Does IIM Indore plan to apply for AMBA certification?

We recognize the need for accreditation. In fact, IIM Indore has initiated the process of AACSB accreditation. I am not sure of AMBA at this point in time.

Q. The One year MBA (EPGP), as an MBA level course as per global accreditation criterion, is eligible to participate in the Financial Times Global MBA rankings. IIM A’s PGPX and ISB’s PGP have performed well on these rankings. Does the institute plan to enter the course in the rankings?

Right now the focus is on putting together a cutting edge program. We will take a call at an appropriate time.

Q. How aware are recruiters now of the value proposition of the One year MBA course at IIM Indore? Is there any growth in the number of recruiters participating in placements over the past years?

Lots of inputs for the restructuring have come from the industry and alumni. The verticals we have introduced in the course work have been conceptualized, designed and are being delivered with significant support from the industry. So the relevant stake holders are aware.

2013-14 had an early start in terms of placements. We have seen some traction from the manufacturing sector. This is very positive. For a long duration, post experience program like EPGP, helping the participants find the right fit is very important. We are happy with the progress made on the placement front.

Q. While the sanctioned batch size of 60 students is consistent with that of many One year MBA courses in Europe, does IIM Indore have any plans of increasing the size of the batch for the EPGP?

We have kept the batch size small deliberately. The actual intake is not even 60. It has always been sub fifty. We are contemplating a more elaborate, multi stage admission process to ensure the right fit. Diversity is important. Attitude matters a lot. A pre-application stage interaction followed with the post application stage interview might help shape the expectations better as well as improve the candidate-program fit.

Q. The branding of the One year MBA as Executive PGP at IIM Indore and at some other Indian business schools has led to a lot of confusion. Many students are under the impression that the course is an Executive MBA. Many recruiters often mistake the programme for a part time programme when they hear the word ‘executive’. Even the press is confused. For instance, Business Today recently published a ranking of One year MBA courses but ended up referring to the course as an Executive MBA. The magazine went to the extent of wrongly concluding that Executive MBA courses abroad are part time courses, but at IIM they are full time courses. Students at ISB do not report facing these issues as the course at the institute is aptly called a One year PGP. This confusion could be easily sorted with a re-branding of the course as a ‘One year full time MBA’. 

Is IIM Indore cognizant of the confusion the current branding of the course has generated? Consequently are there any plans for re branding the course as a One year PGP or One year MBA?

IIM’s are not degree granting institutions.​ Therefore i am not sure of using the name ‘MBA’. We keep hearing about the Indian Institute of Management bill that would allow IIM’s to grant degrees. Passing of the bill is a precursor to branding the program as one year MBA. But yes, informally there have been talks about re-branding the course.